Ageism,Death Anxiety and the Caseworker

ABSTRACT

This paper presents the results of an exploratory research study designed to identify some of the attitudes and socio-cultural characteristics of social workers practicing in the field of aging. Data were collected from two groups of caseworkers-one group with a geriatric caseload, the other with a non-geriatric caseload. There were striking and significant differences between the two groups in their preferences for working with particular client populations. The geriatric caseworkers indicated a preference for working with the frail elderly and cancer patients and negative preference for working with younger clients (either disturbed children or adolescent offenders). The non-geriatric caseworkers generally expressed a negative preference for the frail elderly or cancer patients and a preference for young married couples. No single factor seemed to differentiate the two groups as clearly as their levels of death anxiety. Those practicing in the field of aging revealed a significantly greater level of death anxiety as indicated by their higher levels of fear of the dying of others. Results also pointed to a relationship between death anxiety and the number of years of social work practice with the aging. In general, the greater number of years in the field of aging, the greater the level of anxiety tended to be, leveling off at about six or seven years. When the age of the social worker was held constant longevity in the field of aging affected levels of anxiety about the death of others, the dying of self, as well as the dying of others.